Cooling Future Urban Habitats: Technology Based On Human Body? – Analysis

0
1593

dc43ade4245c4e4442e32c94a02ddf43 Cooling Future Urban Habitats: Technology Based On Human Body? – Analysis

What is the viable scenario when demand for far-reaching housing increases amid rise global temperatures? How do we create sustainable home to survive in an increasingly warming satellite?

By Christopher H. Lim and Tamara Nair*

Supported on United Nations estimates, the international population is growing by 1.18 pct annually or an additional increase of 83 1000000 people every year. In short-change, the world’s population is projected to increment by more than one billion general public within the next 15 age, reaching 8.5 billion in 2030, and to accrual further to 9.7 billion in 2050 and 11.2 zillion by 2100.

According to UN Habitat the number of warren dwellers is estimated at 863 meg by 2014 account, compared to 760 zillion in 2000 and 650 million in 1990. They history for around 33 percent of citified populations. Combine these two, add accelerando global temperatures to the mix, and humanity rises on the brink of global crises: an in any case-increasing urban population, the pauperism to meet global housing bid and unprecedented consumption of energy to admit the numbers.

Add Global Warming Leaning – A Perfect Storm

The release of NASA’s mid-gathering climate analysis concluded that the yr 2016 could have been the hottest on file (at least based on the first six months). The Class Meteorological Organisation confirmed this at the Marrakech Mood Change Conference in November 2016. If one were to inspect the data over the past 50 elderliness, the average global temperature has accrued at the fastest rate in recorded account. And, since 2000, experts hold observed that the trend is accelerating: all but one of the preceding 16 years were the hottest dotage in NASA’s 134-year document.

The ticking ‘time bomb’ created by extensive warming and global housing involve (due to population growth) creates an urging to search for a solution to house humanity in decent and energy-efficient support quarters in major urban middle, especially in developing Asian state.

Recognising temperature increases, the globular community has recently concluded a guide deal in Kigali, Rwanda, on qualifying hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) used in, centre of other things, air-conditioners and refrigerators. This has both categorical and negative impacts. An article in the New Dynasty Times emphasises how the use of airconditioning is both a favour and a bane when it comes to qualifying lives vis-à-vis climate change.

A contemporary study states that the unit of deaths as a result of very hot life in the United States declined by up to 80 percentage from 1960 to 2004, expresses to the adoption of airconditioning. In contrast, hot life in, for example India, have big impacts on mortality, especially for apiece additional day where the temperatures exaggeration beyond 35 degrees Astronomer.

Biomimicry: Learning From Hominoid Body’s Design

However, minded that airconditioning is also chargeable for the release of greenhouse gases, it gos away very little room for underdeveloped countries to use critical adaptation implement, like air-conditioning, in an increasingly hot world. As such, the way out of this enigma for developing countries such Bharat and China is to search for some die of technological breakthrough to mitigate collision of global warming.

Studies of how man body reacts in hot environments could offer some insights into deviceful engineering design in constructing sustainable abode. Normally, the body cools itself by crack pores on the skin and releasing hose and salts. As the water evaporates, it carry the body’s heat to the air. Because moisten has a high latent heat, which is the warmth required for changing liquid to gas, this case usually carries away plenty heat to do a good job of cooling the reason.

This ‘technology’ has already been modified in food storage to reduce wastage by the initiator of the Evaptainer, a storage device that put into practice evaporative cooling to store bread, without the use of electricity. Similar application albeit on a larger scale may be the impression to installing ‘air-conditioning’ to residence with minimum energy intake.

The Future Sustainable Home

The final sustainable home will entail to be built in a way that allows it to confront extreme temperatures. This is exclusively important when we address homes needs of the millions in Asia who now annex no proper dwellings. Cost is an determining factor that is difficult to overtake given the number of houses that call for to be constructed.

We suggest upscaling the application behind Evaptainers by incorporating the application in housing design. Further analysis is needed to identify appropriate substance for this. With modification in base, one could even replace inundate with other suitable insulating substance to retain heat for winter months.

This application can, without the use of electricity, act as an effective appropriateness tool against temperature extremes. Much building design could efficaciously function like Evaptainers for residential quarters.

Meeting housing demands in the citified centres of Asia is a challenge, remarkably in terms of cost. This fact design attempts to alleviate the price to some extent, especially in name of stabilising indoor temperatures, which could real well make the difference ‘tween life and death for some in the final. This would be most competent in public housing or in government trapping projects for disadvantaged communities who Testament feel the brunt of climate commute.

This technology could potentially be Euphemistic pre-owned for larger commercial buildings with the aim of reduction energy consumption or even in automobiles of the approaching, like driverless vehicles.

Thither is a need to provide decent impact-efficient housing to help the billions who are now without proper homes. The bump of climate change make this want even more pressing. Evaporative chilling technology has great potential in assignation this challenge especially where community needs demand solutions from field and technology.

*Christopher Lim is Senior Man at the Office of the Executive Deputy Chairwoman and Tamara Nair is Research Partner at the Centre for Non-Traditional Security (NTS) Studies, both in the S. Rajaratnam Institute of International Studies (RSIS), Nanyang Discipline University, Singapore. This is object of a series.

Source

LEAVE A REPLY